摘要 |
A metal gate thermocouple is provided. The thermocouple is configured to measure local temperatures of a device. The thermocouple is a passive device which senses temperature using the thermoelectric principle that when two dissimilar electrically conductive materials are joined, an electrical potential (voltage) is developed between the two materials. The voltage between the materials varies with the temperature of the junction (joint) between the materials. The thermocouple device includes a first conductor comprising a first material formed over a thin oxide layer or a shallow trench isolation (STI) structure and a second conductor comprising a second material formed over the thin oxide layer or the STI structure. The second conductor overlaps with the first conductor to form a thermocouple junction or dimension at least more than an alignment tolerance. The first and second materials are chosen such that the thermocouple junction formed between them exhibits a non-zero Seebeck coefficient. A conductive film formed over the first conductor and the second conductor and a non-conductive void or film is formed over the thermocouple junction.
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